Harrisburg to explore bold school options

Schedules will be tailored to better prepare for college

Jan. 22, 2013

Harrisburg High School in 2010. / Dalton Walker / Argus Leader Media

Written by

Jim Holbeck

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Harrisburg High School will start giving its students a lot more freedom next fall.

Beginning with the new freshman class, the school is transitioning to personalized learning plans for every student, along with a much more flexible schedule for students to pursue their interests and get one-on-one help from teachers.

Superintendent Jim Holbeck said the traditional system has not prepared its graduates for college.

“Many of our students that go off to college drop out and quit,” he said. “And one of the big reasons is they have a hard time handling the flexibility and freedom that they have in college.”

With mass customized learning and flexible modular scheduling, Harrisburg will give its students more control over what they study. They’ll have to learn the same standards as any South Dakota student, but generally they won’t be reading or researching the same material as their peers.

A dramatically different school day will facilitate that individualized study. Gone will be the 50-minute class periods, replaced by 21 segments of time, each 20 minutes long.

“They might spend three hours one day on science and the next day 20 minutes on science,” Holbeck said.

Principal Kevin Lein said the school will be assessing kids more often — say, every two to three weeks — to see whether they understand the material. If a student hasn’t mastered a math concept, for example, she can adjust her schedule to spend more time on the subject.

“Now, we have the flexibility to do that, where in the traditional schedule they couldn’t,” Lein said.

A student who has a strong command of math would be able to move on to more challenging material or free up more time for a different subject.

Lein said research supports the new model, but the school is taking a risk by giving 15-year-olds more control.

“They’re going to make the wrong choices sometimes,” he said.

To account for that, each student will have three staff members identified as advisers, responsible to ensure a student doesn’t fall behind.

The payoff, as Lein sees it, is the students will graduate more mature and better prepared for what comes next.

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“I think schools have done a disservice holding kids’ hands all the way through,” he said.

Omaha provides school model

The seed for the change was planted four years ago as Harrisburg was considering the purchase of laptop computers for every high school student. Holbeck attended a conference on Apple computing products at Westside High School in Omaha, which has used flexible modular scheduling since the 1960s.

“I came back more excited about their use of schedules than I was about Apples,” he said.

The next year, the board hired Lein as high school principal, largely because he has a passion for trying new things in education.

The high school has been experimenting for two years with project-based learning, a student-driven model that’s become popular in Sioux Falls and a cluster of school districts in southcentral South Dakota.

Harrisburg’s version of mass customized learning isn’t quite that, but common threads exist: the use of technology over textbooks, lessons that mix multiple subjects at once, and teachers evaluating students through presentations instead of traditional tests.

Lein said the model leaves room for traditional delivery methods of instruction, such as lectures and Socratic questioning. But there will be a clear emphasis on communication skills — reading, writing and public speaking.

Teachers, parents endorse the concept

Michael Amolins, a fourth-year chemistry teacher, initially had reservations about giving students more control over what they learn.

“That’s probably the most difficult part for teachers, is that letting go,” he said.

He quickly changed his mind after visiting the school in Omaha. The rest of the staff has come around too, as it’s been discussed for the last two-and-a-half years. Each time the teachers have voted in the absence of administrators, he said, “more and more people have been on board.”

He identified two holdouts at the end of the last school year; one left for another job, and the other has embraced it after visiting the Omaha school.

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Relishing chance for one-on-one work

For Amolins, customized learning means no longer teaching to the middle, leaving some kids bored and others struggling to catch up.

“I liked the freedom to work with kids on a one-on-one basis,” he said. “I think you can address the needs of all students at all levels.”

Parents have been accepting of the plan, too. After an informational meeting with the parents of eighth-graders, no one spoke up during a public hearing on the concept during the following board meeting.

Amolins said parents he’s spoken with want to be assured the school is not experimenting on their children. They also have questions about how grading will work. But mostly, they’re excited.

“I think it would be good to challenge kids who are currently bored in class and maybe give some more attention to those who need it,” said Dianne Harris, whose son will be in the first freshman class next year.

“The only thing I would have a concern about is continued motivation for the students,” she said.

Tapping interests for student motivation

Harrisburg officials said that in school visits, they’ve found students are motivated because they get to follow their own interests. Harris is satisfied that they know what they’re getting into.

“It sounds like they’ve done their homework,” she said.

Gregg Tiehen, the father of another eighth-grader, said he has no concerns about the change.

“I think it’s going to be a good thing,” he said. “They’re focusing on the math and science and getting kids more ready for college.”

School board member Juanita Schmunk, who has a child in eighth grade, said parents are excited.

“I think everyone is very much looking forward to the fact that we’re stepping outside of what is normal and trying to give a better education,” she said.

The school board is expected to formally approve the model Monday. Administrators were planning to convert the entire high school in the fall if the sales tax ballot measure had been approved, but now they said they don’t have money for that many more hires; instead, they plan to transition over three years.